Talk of a film about the World War II
hero and Olympic star was discussed again in 1998 with Nicholas Cage
interested in portraying Zamperini.

Louis and Angelina on set

Universal Pictures finally got the ball rolling with Angelina Jolie
as director and producer Matthew Baer, who had spent 15 years trying to get the Zamperini
story to the movie theaters.

Universal Pictures bought the rights to
the book in 2011, a year after Hillenbrand published her book.Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (known in Hollywood as Coen Brothers) rewrote the script from the 1950s after Jolie
became the official director. The film began in 2013 in New South
Wales and Queensland, Australia with some scenes shot at the Fox
Studios Australia. The following is a released trailer for
Unbroken. The film will be officially released on
Christmas Day, 2014.

Louis was born in Olean, New York, his
parents immigrating from Italy. He had an older brother and two
sisters. His older brother, Pete, was a good influence upon him. When
the family moved to Torrance, California, in 1919, Louis attended
Torrance High School. He and his family spoke little English when
they moved to California, which caused Louis to be picked upon by
fellow students.

His father taught him to box in self-defense, and
soon he was beating up the bullies that picked on him. He got so good
that he began to relish fighting.

Louis' older brother, Pete, was on the
school track team, and decided to encourage Louis to stay out of
trouble and use his energy by joining the track team and training
him. At the end of Louis' freshman year, he finished 5th
in the All City divisional 660-yard run.

Louis (left) and Pete Zamperini

It was then that he decided
to quit smoking, for all he thought about was running.
He did so all summer.

After that summer of running in 1932,
he began his first cross-country race, being undefeated in his last
three years of high school. In 1934 he set a world interscholastic
record for the mile at the preliminary meet to the California state
championship. The record he made the following week helped him win a
scholarship to the University of Southern California.

In 1936, Louis decided to try out for
the Olympics. His father worked for the railroad, so Louis got a free
train ticket to the Olympic Trails. A group of Torrance merchants
raised enough money so Louis could afford to eat and have a place to
stay while there. Zamperini finished in a dead-heat tie against Don Lash and qualified for the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. At 19 years old, he was the
youngest qualifier. One night, during a bout of drinking, during the
Olympics, Zamperini decided it would be great to have a German flag
for a souvenir – so he stole one from a flagpole. It is now part of
the Zamperini Museum in the attic of his Hollywood home.

In September of 1941, Zamperini
enlisted in the US Army Air Force and earned a commission as second
lieutenant. He was then deployed to the Pacific Island of Funafuti as
a bombardier on the B-24 Liberator, Super Man.
In April of 1943, during a bombing mission against Japanese on the
island of Nauru, the plane was so badly damaged it was put out of
commission – despite landing on the airstrip. The crew of Super
Man were transferred to Hawaii to wait another assignment and
were given another B-24 named Green Hornet. It was
reputedly a “lemon” because pilots say it was always requiring
maintenance. While searching for a lost aircraft and crew, The The
Green Hornet experienced mechanical failure which
caused it to crash into the ocean 850 miles south of the Hawaiian
island of Oahu, killing eight of the eleven men aboard. The three
that survived drifted for 47 days with little food (eating small raw
fish) and only water they could capture from rain. They caught two
albatrosses, which they ate and used to catch fish. All the while
they fended off shark attacks and nearly capsized in a storm.

They were strafed by a Japanese bomber
several times, puncturing their life raft, but miraculously none were
hit because they jumped overboard, hanging onto ropes. Underwater it
was less of a chance to get hit by bullets. The strafing continued
for 30 minutes, they pretended to be dead so the Japanese would stop.
After a pass without strafing, the survivors thought it was over; but
the bombers bay doors opened and out dropped a black object, It was a
depth charge that landed 30 to 50 feet away from the raft, but never
exploded. The Japanese bomber flew away leaving two rafts riddled
with bullets and deflating. Somehow they kept the rafts afloat.

The tail gunner, Francis McNamara
died after 33 days at sea, leaving only two survivors.

On the 47th day adrift at
sea, Zamperini (Jack O'Connell) and pilot Russel Allen Phillips, (portrayed
by Domhnall Gleeson) the two remaining survivors, sighted land
in the Marshall Islands only to be captured by the Japanese Navy.
They had drifted 2,000 miles with only a few bottles of water, six
chocolate bars, albatross, small fish and rainwater.

While they were captive they were
severely beaten and mistreated, but remained alive until their rescue
at the end of the war in August 1945. Zamperini was tormented by
prison guard Mutshuhiro Watanabe who the prisoners nicknamed “The Bird”, who
later would be included on General MacArthur's list of the top 40
most wanted war criminals in Japan. “The Bird” would escape
justice and not be condemned as a war criminal. In the film, he is
portrayed by Takamasa Ishihara, a Japanese actor.

Zamperini said:

My life as a teenage delinquent
had conditioned me for the war.

But
it was the USC lessons he learned from his physical education
professor, Eugene
Roberts,
who inspired him to strengthen his mind not just muscles that helped
him survive 47 days in a life raft followed by being a prisoner of
war in a Japanese camp. When captured he weighed only 70 pounds, what
was left of his original 165-pound frame.

One
of Zamperini's tormentors was James Sasaki who studied at Harvard,
Princeton, and Yale before attending USC. Later Zamperini learned
that Sasaki had been a Japanese spy, reporting on ship movements in
the harbor at Long Beach. When December 7, 1941 came, Sasaki fled to
Japan and later would be in charge of 91 POW camps because of his
knowledge of English and American customs. Sasaki tried to recruit
Zamperini into making anti-American propaganda broadcasts, but failed
to convince him. Sasaki tried to break Louis' spirit by forcing him
run relay races with Japanese runners. Despite his starving
condition, Louis prevailed.

In
September of 1945, the camp was liberated and in a Red
Cross
mess feeding hungry POWs, a New York Times reporter approached him
looking for a story. When approaching Zamperini, he asked his name,
which he told him, and the reporter stated that:

It can't be. Zamperini's dead.

He
has been reported missing in action and later KIA when neither the
plane or survivors were found. Angrily, Zamperini produced his USC
Silver Life Pass, the only ID he had left. Angry at the reporter, Louis was more
interested in food than fame, searching the floor for chunks of
dropped donuts.

Invited
for a two-week rest in Miami, Florida, the POWs were put in a hotel
and on deep-sea fishing trips. One night, he and a friend crashed a
private party and one of the beautiful girls there was Cynthia
Applewhite [portrayed
by Morgan Griffin].

Cynthia and Louis - newlyweds

After
a two-week romance, Louis and Cynthia married; which would last 55
years until her death, raising two children: Cissy and Luke.

Zamperini
then settled into post-war life, like many other veterans. First he
got into war surplus, selling Quonset huts and other materials to
film studios. He also sold commercial real estate, even invited to be
a community leader and join the state legislature; but declined
because his business interests would be a political conflict.

The
war was over, but not psychologically for Louis. He continued to
revisit the horrors, haunted by his experience as a POW. As he later
wrote:

I was all churned up inside. All
I could think about was revenge. I'd dream about strangling my prison
guards. One night while half-asleep, I grabbed Cynthia around the
neck.

Louis
began to drink heavily thinking the nightmares would stop. Finally
tired of it, Cynthia left to live with her mother. When she started
talking about divorce, Louis knew he had to change or lose the love
of his life.

Instead
of divorcing Louis, Cynthia forgave him and tried to convince Louis
to join her at the local church and listening to the sermons of Billy Graham. She finally convinced Louis to come to a meeting and was
impressed with Graham. During the sermon, Zamperini remembered a
moment when he prayed that if God spared his life he would dedicate
service and prayer. Realizing he had not kept his promise, he
commended himself to Christianity, stopped drinking, and no longer
had nightmares.

Inspired
by Graham, Zamperini toured as a public speaker, describing his
message of forgiveness, which stopped his nightmares about his
captors. In 1950, Louis visited Japan and spread the gospel to
Japanese civilians. At one of the gatherings, he met one of his
former POW guards. Louis recognized him and threw his arms around him
in a greeting. The Japanese man was terrified and ran away. This
began his systematic pursuit of finding his captors, embracing them,
and try to convert them to Christianity.

At
Sugamo Prison, Louis found his former classmate and tormentor,
Sasaki. He has been given a 10-sentence for war crimes, which
Zamperini tried to reduce without success. In 1952, Sasaki was
released and died in 1979.

For
the years after that period, Zamperini stayed busy, his Hollywood
home becoming an impressive museum of souvenirs. He continued to tour
as a speaker in prisons, schools, and other places.

He also spent time with Angelina
Jolie,
director of the film about his story. Louie's daughter recalls the instant connection of Angelina Jolie and her father and Jolie becoming the director ...

...Jolie had directed one film prior to “Unbroken,” called “In the Land of
Blood and Honey.” But, her reservations were justified considering she
wanted to get her dad’s story right. That’s when Baer assured her Jolie
was the right person for the job. ... After we first met with her, we all met her the same time she met Louie
and for the two of them love at first sight. She was more in love with
Louie first, because he was still reeling from getting a kiss on the
lips from Catherine Zeta-Jones, because they were both on the Tonight
Show and so he was reeling from that. And you know, he still had it. He
was 96 years old at the time, but he still had an eye for the ladies.
But, it was love at first sight between them and I could tell it was
going to be a fantastic journey.

Bond between Angelina and Louis

Louie was a role model for his children as well as others ...

He was a wonderful role model for us. He would drop anything to help
anyone – a stranger in need. He continued to rescue lots of people
throughout our life, including me. He saved me from drowning once. I
know it feels horrible to have resentment against people, so I always
try to let it go. And my father would actually, he would pray for his
enemies, or pray for people who had done wrong to him, and that’s a
wonderful way to let it out of you. So he taught us that as well.

I am sure this film will be considered the best of four films directed by Angelina. The film Unbroken opens Christmas of 2014.

Cynthia Garris, Louie's daughter, shared her thoughts and the making of the film's background with Townhall:

After we first met with her, we all met her the same time she met Louie
and for the two of them love at first sight. She was more in love with
Louie first, because he was still reeling from getting a kiss on the
lips from Catherine Zeta-Jones, because they were both on the Tonight
Show and so he was reeling from that. And you know, he still had it. He
was 96 years old at the time, but he still had an eye for the ladies.
But, it was love at first sight between them and I could tell it was
going to be a fantastic journey.

When asked if today's generation could survive such an ordeal. Cynthia answered:

No, I don’t. ...back in that day, I think my father and a lot of those men were just
boys. They grew up really fast, because they grew up in the Depression
and then the war came and they had to be men. Whereas these days, our
young men sometimes remain boys well into their thirties. So, unless you are in an elite part of the military, I don’t think that
your average trained military person would survive and have those
skills.

Louis
Zamperini remains, as the many heroes of World War II and other conflicts, also to be
remembered as an Olympic athlete who stole Hitler's flag at the
games; a man who was an inspirational American and should be the icon of a role model for youthful generations to come. It's all about living by a code based on solid principles - and living them.

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